


An Expedition Gone Wrong

by Reikimon



Series: Adventures of the Kanesada Brothers [10]
Category: touken Ranbu
Genre: Kanesada Brothers, One-Shot, Some angst, appreciating each other, fighting brothers, forced to rely on each other, kasen needs to learn to swim, unexpected expeditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 13:13:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19174018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reikimon/pseuds/Reikimon
Summary: Kasen and Izuminokami's arguing causes Aruji to send them on an impromptu expedition, but gathering resources is the least of their concerns.





	An Expedition Gone Wrong

It had been months since the Kanesada brothers had drawn attention to one of their sibling fights so the very vocal argument that started in the main room and made its way to the courtyard surprised many of the men who were within shouting distance. It was easy to get to at least one point of the argument as Kasen continually, and very loudly, repeated the phrase, “ _but you promised_ ” while addressing his brother. Izuminokami, for his part was waffling between trying to reason with his brother and getting frustrated that his words were constantly being shoved right back at him.

 

The fight had reached the point where both men were edging to the side of anger when Aruji appeared and quietly told each one to prepare for an expedition. They were a bit shocked at the instructions since most expeditions were planned at the beginning of the day, but they did as they were told and soon arrived back at the teleporter where their master waited for them, and soon sent them off without a word.

 

~~~~

 

Kasen had an irritated frown on his face as soon as they arrived in what he expected to be a familiar spot. Well, it seemed familiar, but things looked out of place somehow and it was raining. It had never rained on this particular expedition, or had he just been fortunate in the past? As his brother began going on about how unfair it was for their master to do such a thing, noises from his left caught his attention and once he had discerned what they were, he felt a moment of panic.

 

“Izuminokami,” he whispered loudly.

 

“Why is it raining? Nosada...it's not supp...”

 

“Izuminokami,” his voice was more strained at this point.

 

“What is it?”

 

Kasen reached up and grabbed his brothers cloak, yanking him back.

 

“Waaaah...” Izuminokami's arms flailed in the air as he tried to balance himself, losing footing on the wet ground beneath him as he tumbled back onto Kasen, who dragged him to the ground and forcibly rolled him to the edge of woods.

 

“Oi! Nosa...”

 

Once again the younger Kanesada found his words cut off as Kasen pointed up the hill to where they were supposed to be going. Izuminokami's eyes widened in surprised and they remained still, watching as a large group of samurai and other types of fighters passed by. The last of the men disappeared at a distance and both relaxed, relieved to have avoided detection; or they thought, until they heard some yelling and several fighters gathered together at the top of the hill, starting towards them.

 

Scrambling to their feet they ran into the woods, instinctively going the same direction until they came to small clearing.

 

“This way,” they said at the same time while point opposite directions.

 

“Why can't we ever agree?!” Izuminokami yelled in irritation.

 

“I'll follow you, just go,” Kasen pushed his brother away.

 

Izuminokami ducked under branches, occasionally looking back to make sure his brother was keeping up with him and picked out a direction that looked like it been traversed before. Hearing the sound of rushing water his hope increased that they could find a bridge and cross over quickly, giving them to time to hide from their pursuers.

 

Clearing the edge of the woods, they were greeted with a small amount of open area; a swollen, rushing river; and the remnants of a washed out bridge.

 

Making a disgruntled noise he stepped close to the edge of the river, hoping to get a glimpse further in the direction they had been traveling but could see nothing. They couldn't cross or turn back, and they were now too far from their original entry point to use the timepieces to return to the citadel. This left them with only two options, neither one of them good.

 

“We have to fight,” Kasen stated as he prepared to unsheathe his sword, “But remember that we can't kill them.”

 

Izuminokami looked at his brother for a moment. If they couldn't kill, they would most likely die. So now, with the soldiers close enough to hear, they had only one option left and he hoped they would survive. Pulling his cloak off he quickly twisted it into a rope and stepped up to his brother wrapping the fabric around Kasen's waist and making a knot.

 

“Nosada, don't panic, don't fight.”

 

“What? And what are you doing?”

 

Holding onto the knot that he had just tied, he bent his legs, forcefully pushing off the ground and propelling them backwards into the engorged river. As their bodies sank under surface of the water he tried to keep focus on which was up, and fought to get their heads above water. Kasen struggled against him for a few seconds before going almost motionless right before Izuminokami's head thrust out of the water. He gasped in some air and yanked on his cloak, managing to bring his brother to the surface. A large inhale of air assured him that his brother was alive and allowed him to now concentrate on getting them to the other side, which was going to prove difficult as the swiftly moving water was carrying them downstream. If they survived this, someone was going to have to teach Kasen how to swim.

 

Izuminokami allowed the water to carry them while he kept them afloat, looking for anything he could grab onto. His arms were getting tired, and he could tell by the slowly tensing body next to him, that Kasen was possibly close to trying to do something that might not be advisable. If he didn't find something soon, they would drown. He didn't like that idea, and refused to give into it, mustering extra strength to try to angle them towards the edge of the river. Churning his legs to change their direction he managed to bring them closer to the edge which helped slow them down, but put them in danger of running into large rocks. They needed luck, or better yet, a solid place to grab onto, like what he just saw a short distance from them. As soon as they neared the area, which was low and had plenty of thick, long grass to latch onto, he reached out and grabbed hold of the side.

 

“Hold onto me,” he yelled over the rushing water, “and don't let go.”

 

Kasen slung his arm over his brother and dug his fingers through the grass into the moist dirt that was their salvation. He wriggled from Izuminokami's tight grasp, ignoring the words being lashed out at him for not listening and managed to get his other hand on the bank and tried to pull himself up. It was harder than he had anticipated with his wet clothes, the force of the rushing water and lack of being able to keep his hands firmly in one spot. But his determination to not let Izuminokami's efforts to keep them alive go to waste gave him enough of what he needed to get out of the river and subsequently pull his brother out. Scrambling to their feet, they quickly found shelter in the nearby woods, going in several feet before dropping to the ground, struggling for air.

 

“What is it with you dragging me into water all the time?” Kasen finally asked betweens breaths.

 

“Guess it's my only choice when you won't listen.”

 

“Excuse me? I did listen to you,” Kasen glared at his brother, “I even followed you when I thought the other way would have been better.”

 

“I meant the first time, Nosada,” he replied in exasperation, “This time was a matter of survival. Don't be so angry all the time.”

 

“It was a matter of survival even if we had stood our ground.”

 

“See?!” Izuminokami sat up suddenly, “This is exactly why I don't want to take you into one of my parties.”

 

“Why is that exactly?”

 

“Because you almost died...and this is just an expedition,” the tone of his voice heightened.

 

“WE almost died Izuminokami. That had nothing to do with who the leader was,” he snapped. He was tired of being pushed away for a stupid reason and just wished his brother would let go of the past. Standing up, he looked around the area and stepped away from the tree line.

 

“What are you doing?” Izuminokami joined him quickly.

 

“Does it matter? You don't want to be in a party with me. Do you even really care?” Kasen's word were filled with frustration and anger. He slapped the wet cloak into his brother's chest and turned away, walking back towards the direction from which they had come.

 

“ _I do care,”_ Izuminokami wanted to say as he walked behind his brother, but couldn't get the words out. His usual ability to argue with Kasen had abandoned him at the moment he had heard the last words. He should at least try to deal with this since they really couldn't afford for either one of them to be out of sorts or distracted right now, but finding the right words to say was going to be hard when he wasn't very good at it, although for once it didn't seem his brother was either.

 

For several minutes they walked near the tree line keeping an eye out for any sight of the soldiers who had come after them. He hadn't seen any sight of them, but that didn't mean they weren't around or looking. He noticed that the sky was turning dark and the wind was picking up showing signs of a heavy storm. This was not going well and he wondered if he should tempt fate to ask what else could go wrong for them.

 

“Come on Nosada, we're not going to make it back before that storm hits,” he reached out for his brother's arm, pulling him back towards the forest. They couldn't risk being so close to the river in this storm with the water already spilling over the edges at some points. Taking shelter several feet inside the woods, they huddled together under the flimsy protection of their cloaks as the rain came down hard even through the trees. Izuminokami buried his head into arms, pushing aside his personal concerns to plan how to safely return to their arrival spot where they teleport back to the citadel. The one problem was that he was at a disadvantage, not knowing this expedition area very well, but Kasen would probably know it with his knowledge of history and maps. It was too hard to hold a conversation in the rain, so until they could he would put together a few ideas based on the facts he did know.

 

As the rain came down he drew diagrams in the mud next to him using varying combinations for what they might find near the washed out bridge and even past it. He knew there was at least a path that cut through the trees, but he was pretty sure it wasn't a merchant road, but then he didn't really have time to give it full scrutiny at the time. This road might be a problem, but it might also be a sign that they are close to the actual town.

 

The storm soon died down and Izuminokami was up and ready to go, waiting for his brother to join him at the edge of the trees.

 

“You know this area pretty well, don't you Nosada?”

 

“I know what it looks like for the usual expedition, yes.”

 

“Tell me what's that way, this side of the river,” he pointed the direction they had been walking.

 

Kasen explained what he knew for the era the normal expedition was in, pulling out his time piece to check the current time they were in. Scowling at the item in his hand he held it up, “It's full of water.”

 

Izuminokami reached for his, finding his full of water as well; even though the time pieces were supposed to hold up from getting wet, the fact that they had been submerged for a long period of time was too much.

 

“Oi,” he looked at his, clearly annoyed, “Why is all this happening?!”

 

“Maybe to show us that we can't control everything,” Kasen replied as he put his time piece back, “You can't control the weather, or mistakes, or what.....”

 

“ _...Other's think.”_ Looking away from his brother towards the river he completed the sentence in his mind, painfully aware this was exactly what he had been doing to Izuminokami about the raids.

 

“Okay, I can make a guess at what time we're in,” he quickly returned his focus to their issue, knowing that was the priority. Going by what he saw, and figuring in the time of the woods growing to match the future, he estimated how many years previous they were and then described the possible layout to his brother.

 

Izuminokami used the information to choose the plan he thought would work the best and explained what he wanted to do, which was to follow the woods to the first main merchant road, use the storm as cover to cross back over to the other side and hopefully be able to quickly enter the shelter of the woods on the other side without being seen. Of course, this was largely dependent on finding the merchant road as well as having another huge downpour of rain once they got there.

 

As the day passed, they realized how far down the river they had been carried and more than once Izuminokami calculated how much time he thought they had until they were missed at the citadel and a search party was sent for them. The goal was to get to the point before they did and avoid anyone getting trapped like they had.

 

“Izuminokami,” Kasen stopped and pointed upstream towards the washed out bridge, “Where we started.”

 

They had finally reached the first part and now had a better idea of where they were and possibly how much further they had to go. Moving to the woods as they approached the path that led to the former bridge, they watched the area cautiously before crossing and weaving their way through a long span of trees until they felt it was safe enough to walk along the edge again.

 

Continuing forward they would walk until a storm came, and rest until it passed, using the time to make any alterations to the plan as they needed. It seemed like it they would never find the merchant road until Kasen noticed a change in the woods.

 

“Izuminokami...”

 

“Yeah?” His brother turned around and came back to him.

 

“The woods are thinning out, we're getting close to either the merchant road or the edge of town at least.”

 

“Ah...” Izuminokami scanned the trees, “Guess we better move back into the woods then, just in case people are hanging around.”

 

Once again traveling in the woods they continued until the reached the edge which ended only a few feet away from the main road and to their right was the bridge that would take them back across.

 

“The road, the bridge, and the woods on the other side...” Kasen whispered as he pointed everything out.

 

“I knew it, you do good work Nosada, Now we just have to wait for the next storm.”

 

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long as dark clouds pushed towards them and the rains started. They had already agreed on what to do and as soon as the rain made it difficult to see very far in front of them, they moved. Kasen went first with Izuminokami right behind him, both running as fast as they could through the strong wind and rain to the other side and, after both of them falling into a large mud puddle, they were able to make it to the safety of the trees.

 

“Owwwwww,” Izuminokami doubled over clutching at his ribs once they were several feet in.

 

“What is it?” Kasen grabbed onto his shoulders trying to determine what was wrong.

 

“I got a stitch in my side.”

 

“This is what you get for not keeping up with your walking.”

 

“Wow Nosada,” he placed a hand on his brother's side to help pull himself up, “You can be so harsh to a man in pain.”

 

“Sorry about that...”

 

“Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find a way to get you back.”

 

Izuminokami took a few minutes to let the pain subside as Kasen kept watch on the bridge and the nearby road until they could continue. Moving in a diagonal direction towards their goal, they stayed close together constantly watching for any lingering soldiers who might have remained in the area. To their relief, they made it safely to their arrival spot without running into anyone or any other problems.

 

“Eh, we should climb a tree, probably the safest spot to stay close and keep a watch out for the other team.” Izuminokami looked around, still talking in a hushed voice and only noticing Kasen's face when he looked over at him, “What?”

 

“You expect me to climb a tree?” Kasen asked him incredulously.

 

“You can't swim, you can't climb trees...just what kind of sword are you?”

 

“An elegant one...”

 

Izuminokami gave him a skeptical look up and down, “No you're not.”

 

“Well you're not cool right now yourself.” Kasen gave him the same look back.

 

“Still cooler than you though. Now come on, you can do this. I'll give you a lift up.”

 

Kasen mumbled something to himself and placed a foot onto his brother's hands. It wasn't that he didn't know how to climb trees, it was just that in this state, with very wet and heavy battle gear, this was going to be tough. His hands slipped along the tree bark several times, scrapping his palms, but he kept trying until he was able to firmly grab a lower branch and pull himself up with Izuminokami coming up right behind him.

 

“Ah, there we go,” his brother settled onto a larger branch, “I can watch from here, you just try not to fall off.”

 

“Izuminokami...”

 

“I'm just kidding Nosada, I trust you can sit in a tree.”

 

Kasen hadn't even really thought about what his brother had said, but was wanting to talk about something that had been on his mind for the past few hours.

 

“I wasn't talking about that,” he hesitated for a moment, “I'm sorry I tried to push you into taking me with you in raids before you were ready. I just like being there with you, fighting alongside you.”

 

“I do, too.”

 

Izuminokami knew he should have said the problem wasn't all Kasen's fault. He had made a promise and should have kept it, but brushing his brother off had become a habit and given him a sense of having more time to accept the idea. But there would never be enough time to make him feel absolutely safe about taking Kasen and this weird expedition had reminded him how good his brother was at certain things, being dependable and skilled. It was time to face his fear and once they got back to the citadel, he would let their Master know he was ready to include his brother on his team.

 

They sat in silence, watching the ground and both fighting the need to sleep. The wait seemed never-ending until Izuminokami spotted the arrival of Yagen, Namazuo, and Honebami. He whistled to the party, easily getting their attention and by the time they arrived at the base of the tree he had climbed down and was waiting for Kasen to descend. Only a few words were exchanged between them and a few minutes later the six men were safely back in the citadel.

 

“Thanks guys,” Izuminokami nodded to the three Toushirous.

 

“Sure, let me know if you have any injuries,” Yagen replied as they walked away, leaving the two brothers alone.

 

“Oi, Nosada, don't worry about the report, I'll talk to Aruji about it...you should go get your hands taken care of.”

 

“I can go with you..”

 

“Nah, I got it.”

 

“Alright,” Kasen hesitated for a moment, looking at his brother with appreciation, “Thanks Izuminokami, for everything.”

 

“Yeah, no problem.”

 

~~~~

 

That same evening Kasen was sitting at the kotatsu table when Izuminokami appeared in the doorway, leaning against the opening. He waited to see if his brother was going to say anything first, but eventually it was left to him to start the conversation.

 

“Izuminokami.”

 

“Ah, Nosada,” Izuminokami took the liberty of walking into the room as soon as his name had been called. Sitting down across the table he glanced around at the papers spread around his brother, “How are your hands?”

 

“They still hurt a little, but I can write. Want some tea?” Kasen looked at him with curiosity. His brother was acting weirder than usual.

 

“Sure,” he answered as he picked up a page with a small map drawn on it, “What are you doing?”

 

“Writing about today.” Kasen poured the tea and placed it in front of him.

 

'Mind of I read it?”

 

“No, go ahead.” He pushed his journal across the table to his brother and turned a few pages, “It starts here.”

 

“Oi Nosada, you write too much.”

 

“Then give me the book back.”

 

“Nooo, I want to read it.”

 

“Fine, then stop complaining.”

 

“Alright, Alright.” Izuminokami took several minutes to read through the pages, occasionally stopping to take a sip of tea. When he was finished he handed the book back and sat up straight with a proud look on his face, “It's good except it's missing one thing.”

 

Kasen narrowed his eyes wondering what he could have possibly missed, he had included everything he could think of, “Exactly what is it missing?”

 

“Eh, maybe I should write it.”

 

Kasen's side eye deepened, as he cautiously pushed his journal back, giving his brother a privilege that he had only ever given his partner.

 

“Ah, you'll let me?” Izuminokami sounded surprised but then happy, “Alright then, but don't look.”

 

Once he was done he blew some air on the fresh ink before giving the book back to his brother.

 

“Alright,” he stretched and stood up, “I'll be going now. Talk to you later Nosada.”

 

“Sure.” Kasen watched him leave and pulled the journal towards himself, looking down to the last line of his own handwriting that read ' _Izuminokami was a good leader and there were times I thought he was cool.'_ His eyes then moved to the entry his brother had made right under it, ' _Nosada was cool too; he wasn't very elegant, but he certainly was cool.'_

 

He smiled at the words, there was nothing more to be said now that both of the Kanesada brothers considered each other cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
